Kerapac
Kerapac, the self-proclaimed 'Observer', is a Dactyl Dragonkin. Like the other Dactyl, Kerapac represses the urge to cause destruction and kill False Users that the Dragonkin's connection to the Stone of Jas causes, and instead performs research and experiments in an attempt to sever his connection to it, which led him to the creation of the Queen Black Dragon, and by extension, the entire dragon race. He wrote the Dragonkin journals, and features in the One of a Kind and the Hero's Welcome quests. Characteristics Kerapac can be described as blunt, highly intelligent, focused on his goals and completely amoral: he is willing to do almost anything for the sake of ridding the Dragonkin of Jas's curse, including acts which many would consider to be outright evil, such as vivisecting his own kind . As such, he is more than willing to make deals and promises with people if they further his goals, and generally keeps his word. He considers concepts such as fate and the afterlife to be mere superstition, and thus does not hold a very high view of those who believe in them. Kerapac is quick to rage. He once speared one of his students in the throat for a reason so minor that Phalaks could not remember why. He cares very little for the so called "lesser races", and feels nothing but hatred and disappointment towards his failed experiments - such as Therragorn - giving no second thoughts about abandoning them. Additionally, he holds great resent and hatred towards Jas, who he has expressed a desire to kill , due to the curse placed on the dragonkin, even though such an act is impossible. Kerapac is extremely powerful, and has fought against Jas's curse for over 18,000 years, which he continues to do to the present day. Like all Dragonkin, Kerapac has the ability to breathe dangerous fireballs, and he also possesses a large amount of magical prowess, as evidenced by how he was able to manipulate the egg of one race and infuse his lifeblood into it to turn it into another , a feat most gods are not even capable of. This, coupled with the mutilated remains of Grotworms and Strykewyrms within his laboratory all hint at his extraordinary physical and magical prowess as well as extensive knowledge of anatomy and magical theory. History Creation Kerapac, like the other Dragonkin, was born eons ago in the previous cycle of the universe. They somehow became aware of The Great Revision - the elder gods' awakening and remaking of the universe anew, and hid deep within the Abyss to avoid it. They then sought out the Elder God Jas to try and reason with her, but she enslaved Kerapac and the other Dragonkin and bound them to the Stone of Jas has enslaved for the purpose - the Dragonkin|loc = While Guthix Sleeps}}, the most powerful of the Elder Artefacts: powerful creations of the Elder Gods used to refine their power. This curse meant that whenever the Stone of Jas was used by anyone other than Jas, the Dragonkin would become empowered, enraged and feel a compulsion to cause destruction and destroy the so called 'False Users'. Eventually, Jas and the other Elder Gods succeeded in creating the perfect world, which later became known as Gielinor, and went to sleep, leaving Kerapac, the Stone of Jas, the TokHaar and the other Dragonkin behind on Gielinor. Search for the Cure After Jas left, many "young gods" and mortals found and used the Stone of Jas including Guthix, which angered Kerapac and the others greatly due to the pain they were forced to endure. They come to greatly resent Jas for what she had done to them, and many of the Dragonkin were driven mindless with rage due to the continued use of the Stone, and their power not yet being enough to kill the False Users . Unlike many of the other Dragonkin, namely the Necrosyrtes, Kerapac tried to resist the curse, and sought a way to rid himself of it, and thus began experimenting on other Dragonkin in an attempt to find a way to remove it, pouring the pain he was forced to endure into motivation. His first experiments involved vivisecting his fellow Dragonkin, examining their bodies and removing parts of them in an attempt to find a biological reason for the curse. Despite his efforts, he was always unsuccessful in his attempts, with his subjects even retaining the curse as they died. Due to his repeated failures and a realization that he couldn't forcibly remove the curse, he instead found a new goal in trying to create a new form of life that would inherit the traits of the Dragonkin but be free of the curse. As the Dragonkin are not able to reproduce naturally, he travelled to an island full of giant, mindless reptiles, and took some of the eggs of these creatures. Using his vast magical prowess, he then forced his lifeblood onto the strongest eggs, a process which killed all but one of them: the egg of a large, water-dwelling lizard. When the egg hatched, he placed the newly born Queen Black Dragon in a large, water-filled chamber deep underneath what would become modern-day Rimmington, and discovered that she was highly intelligent and seemingly free from the Dragonkin's curse, qualities which Kerapac believed gave the queen much promise. She also possessed the ability to breathe fire without magic, a feat that all modern-day dragons are now capable of, and she also inherited Kerapac's magical power, although due to her large size, she was unable to properly utilize it. To counter this, Kerapac channelled her power into smaller spirits, who were able to use the Queen's massive power to cast their own powerful spells. The other Dragonkin soon heard of Kerapac's experiments, and a former student of Kerapac, Phalaks, created his own creature: the King Black Dragon, which was similar to the queen, but smaller, three-headed and less intelligent. Despite it being weaker than the Queen, Kerapac saw its worth as potential mate for her, which would allow even more dragons to be created. . Despite the King and Queen's promise, the offspring they produced were small, mostly unintelligent and rather weak, causing Kerapac to bring more and more mates to the Queen, which all proved unsuccessful. In addition to the well known, common bestial dragons that were produced, a breed known as the White dragons were also born, which inherited the Dragonkin's ability to travel to different planes and intelligence, but were timid and physically weak. Due to how the Queen's natural offspring did not continue the Kin's lineage, Kerapac further experimented on the Queen's eggs and offspring in an attempt to correct this. One such attempt involved pouring molten metal of various types into her eggs in order to create Metal dragons. Few survived the process, even after Kerapac's magic was applied, but while those that did were stronger than most dragons, they were nevertheless deemed a failure. Another attempt involved experimenting on the Queen's white dragon eggs in a dungeon on Dragontooth Island by infusing them with the power of the Abyss, a process which drove them mad and able to mentally exist in multiple time periods at once. Eventually, 100 years after the beginning of the project, it was deemed a failure by Kerapac, as with the exception of the Queen, it was only able to produce weak, bestial and/or unintelligent offspring that didn't carry on the Dragonkin's lineage, rather, it created an entirely new species which Kerapac viewed as nothing but a disappointment. Although he released the King Black Dragon into the wilds, despite being disappointed with the Queen's inability to create viable offspring, he nevertheless realized that she was his creation and could prove useful later on due to her power, and thus placed her into a magical sleep underground, restraining her with magical artefacts which also served to protect her from intruders. He then burned most of his books on the project, and left with six of his fellow Dragonkin. . Despite his failure to create a successor, he still continued the search to free himself from Jas's curse, and thus established a laboratory under the Dragonkin fortress on a peninsula near Forinthry, close to Daemonheim. Here, he continued to experiment and seek ways to rid himself of the curse, doing things such dissecting Dragons, Grotworms and Strykewyrms, collecting Ancient Effigies, and experimenting with portal magic. He continues to experiment in his laboratory even in the present day. Re-emergence of the Ilujanka During the late Fifth Age, the Mahjarrat Sliske captured one of Kerapac's fellow dragonkin - a Necrosyrte known as Strisath - by luring him into the Shadow Realm. He then supposedly used his connection to the Stone of Jas to find it, and held a "grand ascendancy" in the Empyrean Citadel, inviting many of the gods and the World Guardian. He then announced a contest between the gods, and claimed that he would award the Stone of Jas to the one to kill the most gods. He ended this meeting by releasing Strisath from his cage, who immediately attacked the present gods, many of whom were False Users, scaring them off. Shortly after this, Kerapac found Strisath and once again captured him, storing him in a cage in a room of his laboratory. Some time later, Kerapac spotted one of his failed experiments - the last white dragon, Therragorn - flying over Daemonheim. She and her two riders, the legendary Ilujanka Hannibus and the World Guardian, were then shot at by fireball, which possibly originating from Kerapac himself, which sent the riders flying off Therragorn's back and to the ground. Kerapac then brought the two injured riders back to his laboratory, hoping that the World Guardian would be able to assist in his research . The World Guardian quickly awakened, and Kerapac told them that he had rescued them, that he had seen no sign of Therragorn and that she was most likely dead, and informed them that Hannibus was mortally wounded, and that he would only help him if the World Guardian assisted him with his research. With no choice, the World Guardian reluctantly agreed to Kerapac's offer, and Kerapac brought them to Strisath's chamber. Here, he explained that Strisath was once one of the Dragonkin's most celebrated philosophers, before the curse drove him mad, and that he wanted to know if the World Guardian's resistance to god magic would be able to help weaken the Dragonkin's curse. He then elaborated that the curse is like a chain that connects his kind to the Stone of Jas and the False Users, and that it might be possible for them to travel into a representation of the curse and use their resistance to godly magic to temporarily weaken the Curse's effect on Strisath. He then opened the portals in the chamber, releasing wisps made of remnants of Stone of Jas energy that could be channeled into making Strisath receptive to the next part of the plan. After they channelled 25 Dragonkin memories into Strisath, Kerapac used a magical circle he had created around Strisath to send the World Guardian into the curse, where they fought a representation of it: the Echo of Jas. While the adventurer was busy fighting the curse, Kerapac used his magic to heal Hannibus, fulfilling his end of the bargain, and due to their abilities, the World Guardian was able to effortlessly defeat the echo, calming Strisath, albeit temporarily. When they emerged from the curse, Hannibus was fully healed, and Kerapac was thankful for the World Guardian's assistance, becoming closer to a cure. Following this, Kerapac made Hannibus an offer, knowing that his species was unable to reproduce, much like his own. He requested that Hannibus submit himself to his study, hoping that if he did, due to the similar physiology between their species, there would be a slim chance that he would be able to find a cure for both of them, although only it would take a few decades . Hannibus and the adventurer then left Kerapac's laboratory to think about his offer, where they encountered Therragorn, who had brought one of Hannibus's descendants - Sharrigan - from the Ilujanka homeworld of Iaia. Sharrigan offered to bring Hannibus back to Iaia with her, telling him that he had fought long and hard, but that the Ilujanka had accepted their extinction and embraced their destiny, carving their history into a great tree and celebrating their lives. Although Hannibus told them of the cure, Therragorn did not trust Kerapac, who had followed them outside, surprised to see that Therragorn was still alive. Hannibus was unsure what to do, torn between going home and rest with his people or spending decades of stasis in the hope for a cure that may or may not exist, and asked the world guardian for advice. Kerapac did not hold back in stating his belief that accepting fate is mere superstition, and that Hannibus should come with him for the slim hope of a cure, as that was the only hope for his people. Both Sharrigan and Therragorn did not trust Kerapac, and thought that Hannibus should go and spend his final years with the rest of his people, which Kerapac thought to be meaningless sentiment. The World Guardian then has a choice of either siding with Sharrigan or Kerapac. If siding with Sharrigan, Kerapac calls Hannibus pathetic for abandoning the future of his species for "quaint superstitions" and "short lived social ties", and returns to his laboratory while Hannibus, Therragorn and Sharrigan return to Iaia. If siding with Kerapac, he informs Hannibus that he made the right choice, ignoring the protests of Sharrigan and Therragorn, and he takes Hannibus back to his lab to be put in stasis while he searches for a cure, while Sharrigan returns to Iaia. Kerapac's current whereabouts are unknown, but it is likely that he remains experimenting within his dungeon, in an effort to save his race from their enslavement, with or without Hannibus. Hero's Welcome Kerapac makes a brief appearance during the quest after the defeat of the Abomination, ordering his fellow Dactyl Silkath and Phalaks to retrieve samples from the corpse. He informs the World Guardian that his/her job here is over and tells them to leave. The arrival of the Necrosytes prevents this however, and after a heated exchange a fight breaks out between the two dragonkin factions. References Category:Dragonkin